Ames Bunkle, who would later be known by his operating number DX-578, started life as a male human living with his parents on the planet of Lothal. At the age of sixteen, Bunkle enrolled in the Academy for Young Imperials located on Lothal, ultimately specializing in stormtrooper training. This training dramatically altered Bunkle's character, effectively dismantling his original personality and reconstructing him into a devoted, yet almost emotionless, servant of the Galactic Empire. Upon graduation, Bunkle became a fully qualified trooper and participated in the capture of a group of Lothal dissidents responsible for the bombing of Imperial mining activities on Lothal.
Ames Bunkle was a male human resident of the planet Lothal during the Galactic Empire's rule. Born approximately 22 years prior to the Battle of Yavin, Bunkle's parents, Pari Bunkle and her partner, were employed as researchers within the Empire's Ministry of Agriculture. During his childhood, Bunkle attended the Junior Academy of Applied Sciences, where he established a record for carries during grav-ball games against the Forked River team in the summer when he was fifteen. After graduating from the Junior Academy, he applied to, and was accepted into, the Academy for Young Imperials on Lothal in the spring, alongside Dhara Leonis, a girl of the same age who resided with her family in an apartment situated two floors above Bunkle's residence. One year after his grav-ball record, Bunkle attended a party organized by Leonis's parents, Leo Leonis and Tepha Leonis, although his own parents were unable to attend due to work assignments.
At the party, Bunkle remained alone on the apartment's balcony until he was approached by Dhara's brother, Zare Leonis. They discussed Bunkle's anxieties about joining the academy, and expressed regret that they attended the Junior Academy at different times, given Zare's enthusiasm for grav-ball. The sound of a TIE/ln space superiority starfighters patrol then caught their attention, leading them to discuss the starfighters engines. Lieutenant Piers Roddance, another party guest and an Imperial officer, joined their conversation. The topic shifted to the Empire's All Terrain Defense Pods, before Zare noticed Governor Arihnda Pryce among the guests and introduced Bunkle to her. Pryce was with the Leonis family, and Leo delivered a speech expressing his pride in sending his daughter to the academy, after which Dhara introduced Bunkle to the governor before leaving them to converse.
Bunkle enrolled in the academy in the fall and specialized in ground tactics following his initiation, while Dhara primarily took officer training courses, resulting in limited contact outside of shared assignments. After he began at the academy, Zare inquired about Bunkle's well-being during a call with his sister and asked her to greet him. Later that year, Bunkle was selected to specialize in stormtrooper basic training, an intensive program that prohibited contact with his parents. Approximately halfway through Bunkle's training, his mother, Pari, became ill, and the cadet was granted two days of leave to visit her. While walking home in the rain, Bunkle encountered Zare Leonis, who was also on his way home. Their brief conversation revealed the significant changes in Bunkle's personality due to his training, which shocked Zare. He later discussed these changes with his sister, who suggested they were only temporary.
Before Bunkle completed his first year at the academy, Dhara disappeared and was presumed to have run away. The cadet then finished his training and became a fully qualified stormtrooper, identified by the operating number DX-578. In the summer after graduation, DX-578 was among several troopers who traveled in an Imperial Troop Transport to a marketplace in Capital City. They searched the stalls and entered a closed shop, where they discovered and arrested three dissidents responsible for the bombing of nearby Imperial mining operations. One of the dissidents was Beck Ollet, a former classmate of Zare Leonis, and Zare watched from the crowd of shoppers as DX-578 and the other troopers escorted the dissidents to the transport for removal.